The Invisible Force
A series of lectures, known as the Boyer Lectures, are given annually in Australia. Established by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1959, they cover a wide range of subjects. The first lecture for 2007 was about the present understanding of the brain. It was given by Graeme Clark, who was the inventor of the bionic ear.
Graeme Clark began by saying that there are 100 thousand million nerve cells in the adult human brain. Equal to the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Each of these nerve cells are connected to between 10, or as many as 10,000 other nerve cells in the brain. Clark said: “When one considers the complexity of the brain, and its relation to consciousness, we must surely stand in awe.” He later said: “Could the physical universe, which physicists now show had only the remotest chance of producing carbon-based life, have evolved into human consciousness by mindless chance?
The Australian neuroscientist, Sir John Eccles, who received the Noble Prize for brain research in 1963, said in a 1965 Boyer Lecture: “I wish to do all I can to restore to mankind the sense of wonder and mystery that arises from the attempt to face up to the reality of our very existence as conscious beings.”
Well, the scriptures tell us of something that all the brain research in the world could never discover. This from Job 32:8. “But there is a spirit in man: And the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” In this verse the Hebrew word for man is ‘enosh’; word number 582 in Strongs Hebrew dictionary. According to the marginal notes in the Newberry Bible, it means: ‘frail, mortal man’. The ‘spirit’ in man comes from God, as we read in Zechariah 12:1. “…Saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens…And formeth the spirit of man within him.” In this verse the word given as ‘man’ is Adam. Number 120 in Strongs Hebrew dictionary. The word ‘spirit’ in Strongs is 7307, ‘ruach’, meaning “wind; by resemblance breath…figuratively life…mind…”
In Appendix 9 of the Companion Bible published in 1922 by E W Bullinger; he states: “The meaning of the word (ruach) is to be deduced only from its usage. The one root idea running through all the passages is invisible force … Given by God at man’s formation at birth, (or could it be at conception?) and returning to God at his death.” A passage from Ecclesiastes 12:5,7 shows that at death, this is indeed what happens. “Because man (Adam) Hebrew 120) goeth to his long home, (eternity) And mourners go about the streets: …Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
Wonderful indeed is the ‘spirit in man’, and one function of it is given in Romans 8:16-17: “The Spirit itself (the Holy Spirit of God) beareth witness with our spirit , that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.” Being children of God, we have the awesome privilege to address Him in prayer as our Father.
Continuing with the lecture by Graeme Clark: “The human brain is so sophisticated a mechanism that scientists have still not been able to design engineering systems that can match its crucial functions. For me that means a supernatural entity, namely God, was responsible, rather than saying it assembled itself by mindless chance.” How true! For as regards the conscious mind, there is no place for mindless chance. Your mind, home to the ‘spirit in man’, is a miracle from God. If someone ever tells you that they do not believe in miracles. Just look at them and say: “You are one.”
It is interesting that Proverbs 20:27, Ecclesiastes 3:21 and Zechariah 12:1, all speak of the ‘spirit in man’, and in every case the Hebrew word for ‘man’ is Adam. In Strongs Hebrew dictionary, Adam is word number 120, which we are told comes from number 119, and the meaning given is: “119. adam, to show blood (in the face), to flush or turn rosy:- …ruddy.” (This definition describes the complexion of Adam and Eve, as being one aspect of their physical appearance.) To get the all-encompassing meaning of the word ‘man’ given as Adam in the Bible, it would help to look at Genesis 5:1-2.
“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, (Strongs 120/119 Adam) in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created.” With these two verses in mind, could we not then say, that the spirit in man, (Adam) may also be called the spirit in mankind, or Adam-kind, for both man and woman were named Adam from the beginning. Ferrar Fenton saw this, and his Bible translation of 1903 reads: “…constituting them male and female, giving them His blessing and naming them by the name of Mankind, upon the day of their creation.” Genesis 5:2.
The knowledge of the spirit in man is something wonderful indeed. Something we would be totally unaware of and could never discover by ourselves. Yet here it is. Given by our God to His children, in the precious words of the scriptures.